{"id":3900,"date":"2010-04-18T07:42:00","date_gmt":"2010-04-18T14:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/?p=3900"},"modified":"2010-04-18T07:42:00","modified_gmt":"2010-04-18T14:42:00","slug":"a-devil-of-a-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/?p=3900","title":{"rendered":"A Devil of a Show"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last night, we went to go see our second show in this weekend of three: \u201cDamn Yankees<\/a>\u201d at Van Nuys High School<\/a>. Now \u201cDamn Yankees\u201d is not one of those typical high school shows, and it was nice to see it being done. <\/p>\n

For those unfamilar with this 1955 show (which starred such folks as Gwen Verdon as Lola and Ray Walston as Applegate)… or its late 1990s revival (with Bebe Neuwirth as Lola and either Victor Garber or Jerry Lewis as Applegate), \u201cDamn Yankees\u201d is a sports-oriented retelling of the Faustian legend<\/a>. It is set during the 1950s in Washington, D.C., during a time when the New York Yankees dominated Major League Baseball. The story is set in motion when a long-time baseball fan, real estate agent Joe Boyd, offers to sell his soul to see his team, the Washington Senators, win the pennant away from those damn Yankees. Be careful what you say, for the Devil (in the form of Mr. Applegate) shows up and offers Joe the chance to leave his long-suffering baseball widow Meg and become the long-ball hitter the Senators need. Joe agrees, but insists on an escape clause: he can decide the evening before the last game to get out and return to his wife. Applegate waves his hands, and Joe Boyd disappears and young Joe Hardy replaces him. Joe shows up at the Senators locker room, and convinces the manager to add him to the team. Everyone is won over by this man, except for a young reporter who is suspicious. While she investigates his background, Joe begins longing for his wife. Joe\u2019s visits back to his old home get under the skin of Applegate, who plots what he can do to get Joe away from his wife. He sends a skilled homewrecker, Lola, after him, but she fails to seduce him. Applegate decides to switch tactics to ensure Joe’s failure. He releases false information about Joe Hardy’s true identity being “Shifty McCoy”, an escaped criminal and con artist. When Gloria discovers this information, she presses charges, and Joe is forced into court. As the Senators prepare for the final game against the Yankees for the pennant, Joe goes on trial. Joe tells the Applegate he wants out, and Applegate says he has to confirm this at 5 minutes before midnight. But the trial has various delays, and at the magic mark, just as Joe is proven innocent, the delays prevent him from exercising the clause. Joe heads into the final game, but Lola has drugged Applegate, and he doesn\u2019t show until the very end. In order to have the Senators lose (the plan all along, for then there will be loads of suicides and anguish from the fans), Applegate does the only thing he can do: turns Joe back as he is catching the final run. Joe Hardy disappears, and Joe Boyd returns to his wife. Applegate tries to convince Joe Boyd to go back to being Joe Hardy, but the older Joe prefers the love of his wife. I\u2019ll note there\u2019s a longer synopsis (alas, of the 1994 version) on Wikipedia<\/a>; the primary difference appears to be the setting of the novelty number, \u201cWhos Got The Pain\u201d and the setting for \u201cTwo Lost Souls\u201d. Van Nuys appears to have done the 1955 version, with the \u201cPain\u201d number as part of the Talent Show, and the \u201cSouls\u201d number done in a nightclub.<\/p>\n

Van Nuys did a pretty good job with this production—in fact, it was one of the best I have seen them do. This one had some very strong singing and dancing. Of particular note were Quest Sky Zeidler\u2019s Applegate and Glory Smith\u2019s Meg. Both were excellent: well acted and reasonable well sung (note that the Applegate role has never been cast for its singing prowess). Sean Scott was pretty good as Joe Boyd and Joe Hardy—I wasn\u2019t that taken with the older Joe (especially singing), but the younger Joe was very strong and only had a few notes that he had trouble reaching for. Glessida Magaling was also pretty good as Lola: her singing was fine, but dancing for the \u201cWhatever Lola Wants\u201d number was weak. I blame this more on the choreographer than the student; the routine came off as fake-sexy and actually created some laughs. That routine needs to be super sexy, but that\u2019s also difficult and uncomfortable to present with a high-school girl these days. Also particularly strong was Ashylyn Killham as Gloria and Aikiro Tiongson as Vanburen, the coach. Overall, even with the typical problems one sees in a high school production (some voices not 100% able to reach all the notes, a few confused lines, and the questionable choreography), it was a strong and enjoyable performance. Rounding out the cast were Tylor Morris (Lynch), Priscilla Legaspi (Miss Weston), Anjela Tokadjian (Postmaster), Safia Allibhoy (Commissioner), Maria \u201cAlex\u201d Geronilla (Doris), Talia McIlwain (Sister), Rhomas O\u2019Hara (Rocky), Andrew Kim (Henry), Erin Geronimi (Linville), Regine Bautista (Lowe), Matthew Golden (Smokey), Mike Hill (Vernon), Kiran Sanghiran (Welch), and Ariel Kostrewski and Camille Santos in the ensemble. I\u2019ll note that this casting gave the baseball team two women, which created an interesting scene in the discussion before Lola\u2019s big dance (where the women were transformed, and looked more like the other player\u2019s dates), <\/p>\n

The set was also unique for Van Nuys: Mr. Tom Kirkpatrick and his stage class constructed a very raked diamond, with various locales (such as Joe\u2019s home, the locker room) rolled up to the side. This made all the action easy to see, but must have been hell (well, so to speak) to dance on. The large orchestra (led by Mr. Robert Eisenhart) was also excellent, and provided great inter-scene music during scenery changes. <\/p>\n

Where Van Nuys did have trouble was on the technical side: particularly, lights and sound. In the past this has been very strong, but for this production, something was missing*<\/sup>. The crew\u2019s timing was off (lights did not come on sharply on cue, microphones came on off cue), and there were numerous crackles and static from the microphones. When the sound worked, it was great—but it got worse as the night went on. Other than the timing problems, I thought the lighting was pretty good: there were no real spots and no overuse of the moving lights, but there were some questionable color choices. The tech crew is under the direction of Mr. Marque Coy.
\n(*: That\u2019s an in-joke for those familiar with the story: My daughter used to be on the technical crew, but was effectively forced off at the beginning of the semester. Hopefully, we\u2019ll see her back on the Van Nuys boards as an actor or stage manager)<\/font><\/p>\n

The production was directed by Mr. Randy Olea, who did a good job getting the students to bring believable characters out. Choreography was by Anita Morales and was mostly OK, except that they didn\u2019t know how to get Lola to dance right. They really should have brought in Mr. N to at least do her routines—Mr. N is a strong dancer, and could have made Lola\u2019s dances something special. There were no specific credits for make-up and costumes, but I did want to note in particular Quest\u2019s makeup and the costuming in general, which was excellent.<\/p>\n

Last night was the final production of \u201cDamn Yankees\u201d at Van Nuys High School.<\/p>\n

Upcoming Theatre<\/b>. As for us, what\u2019s upcoming on the theatre calendar<\/a>? Tonight brings the April installment of \u201cMeeting of Minds<\/a>\u201d at the Steve Allen Theatre. Next weekend takes me to \u201c12 Angry Men\u201d on April 24 (the rest of the family sees it on May 2). May looks to be equally busy, with \u201cLittle Shop of Horrors<\/i> at Cabrillo Music Theatre<\/a> (May 1), and \u201c12 Angry Men\u201d for Karen and Erin on May 2 @ 2pm (while I get ready for a Games Night at Temple that I\u2019m running). The weekend of May 8 sees Karen and me at the So Cal Ren Faire<\/a> on Saturday. The weekend of May 15 sees the CDF Conference<\/a> for Karen and Erin, followed by \u201cThe 39 Steps<\/i>\u201d at the Ahmanson<\/a> at 8pm. The next weekend takes Erin to the Ren Faire<\/a>, while we see the May installment of \u201cMeeting of Minds<\/i><\/a>\u201d at the Steve Allen Theatre (May 16). The fourth weekend in May brings the Spring Dance Show at Van Nuys HS (May 20-22). The last weekend in May brings the Bat Mitzvah of a family friend, as well as \u201cThe Wedding Singer<\/i>\u201d at Repertory East Playhouse in Newhall<\/a> (May 30 @ 2pm). June so far is mostly open, although I\u2019m expecting that we\u2019ll see \u201cSouth Pacific<\/i>\u201d at the Ahmanson some weekend that month, and potentially the June \u201cMeeting of Minds<\/i>\u201d. As for July, the month starts with \u201cIn The Heights<\/i>\u201d at the Pantages on July 3. The next weekend I\u2019m holding upon for the first show of the 2010-2011 Colony season, \u201cGrace & Glorie\u201d (likely July 10). That weekend may also bring \u201cIt\u2019s Top Secret<\/a><\/i>\u201d, a musical that is part of the Festival of New American Musicals<\/a>, running Jun 19-July 18 at the NoHo Arts Center (likely July 11). July will also bring ; \u201cThe Last Days of Judas Iscariot<\/i>\u201d at REP East on July 17 (pending ticketing); a possible July \u201cMeeting of Minds<\/i>, and \u201cRodgers & Hammerstein\u2019s Cinderella<\/i>\u201d at Cabrillo Music Theatre on July 31<\/del> 24<\/u> (likely moved due to a birthday party).<\/p>\n

As always: live theatre is a gift and a unique experience, unlike a movie. It is vitally important in these times that you support your local arts institutions. If you can afford to go to the movies, you can afford to go to theatre. If you need help finding ways, just drop me a note and I\u2019ll teach you some tricks. Lastly, I\u2019ll note that nobody paid me anything to write this review. In fact, I receive no remuneration for any reviews I write.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last night, we went to go see our second show in this weekend of three: \u201cDamn Yankees\u201d at Van Nuys High School. Now \u201cDamn Yankees\u201d is not one of those typical high school shows, and it was nice to see it being done. For those unfamilar with this 1955 show (which starred such folks as Read More …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51,28,1],"tags":[331,323,466],"class_list":["post-3900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","category-theatre","category-lj-xfer","tag-reviews-2010","tag-theatre-2010","tag-vnhs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3900"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3900\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}